Diecaster cuts metal loss, energy costs with tilt pour furnace.The skyrocketing costs of electricity and natural gas have those who consume large amounts of either searching for ways to save money. The metalcasting industry can be hit especially hard by the price hikes. After consolidating two operations into one, it became apparent that Alloy Diecasting Co. (a Sanders San´ders n. 1. An old name of sandalwood, now applied only to the red sandalwood. See under Sandalwood. Industry Co.), Buena Park Buena Park (bwā`nə), city (1990 pop. 68,784), Orange co., S Calif.; inc. 1953. Food processing, the manufacture of aircraft, and tourism are important to the city's economy. , Calif., needed to upgrade its melting equipment. After purchasing larger diecasting machines, Alloy needed the capability to do its own remelting. But investing in conventional furnaces did not appear to be cost feasible given current economics. Alloy opted to replace its one wet bath reverberatory furnace reverberatory furnace Furnace used for smelting, refining, or melting in which the fuel is not in direct contact with the contents but heats it by a flame blown over it from another chamber. with two gas fired, hydraulic tilt furnaces from Thermtronix, Adelanto, Calif. The two GT 3000s had a combined melting rate equal to the wet bath furnace furnace, enclosed space for the burning of fuel. There are many kinds of furnaces, the type depending upon the fuel and the use to which the heat produced within it is put. Most familiar are the furnaces used in the heating of buildings. (3,000 lbs./hr) but the energy consumption was far less. The furnaces have a melt efficiency of 1,800 BTUs/lb. of aluminum melted and a holding efficiency of about one therm/hr. That translates into a projected savings of about $27,000/yr. based upon a conservative natural gas consumption rate when compared to the wet bath furnace. The new furnaces are able to produce those kinds of savings because of their four-component system that consists of multiple refractory refractory Material that is not deformed or damaged by high temperatures, used to make crucibles, incinerators, insulation, and furnaces, particularly metallurgical furnaces. layers. There is one refractory for mechanical wear and several others made up of various types of fibers and ceramics to deliver a high thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (  ) is a dimensionless performance measure of a thermal device such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, or a furnace, for example. . In addition, because of the multiple layers, the
noise level is reduced.
The furnaces also are equipped with proportional controls A proportional control system is a type of linear feedback control system. Two classic mechanical examples are the toilet bowl float proportioning valve and the fly-ball governor. so they only use as much power as necessary. Where many standard furnaces have only an off mode and on mode that constantly runs at 100%, the GT Series furnaces draw only the necessary amount of power to reach a certain temperature level. (Rather than coming on at 100%, it may be only 10-15%). The furnaces also deliver additional cost savings by reducing melt losses. The "lip seal" design of the furnaces keeps metal losses at a minimum because they contain the flame and combustible com·bus·ti·ble adj. Capable of igniting and burning. n. A substance that ignites and burns readily. gases to the chamber rather than in the furnace itself. Based on a conservative metal loss rate, the furnaces will save Alloy $61,152/yr. in reduced melt losses. The Themtronix furnaces have been running at Alloy for only a few months, but the cost savings are growing rapidly. The one 20,000-lb. wet bath furnace with a 3,000-lb. capacity was projected to cost the company $217,069 in energy and metal loss each year. The new furnaces are projected to cost $128,875. The hydraulic tilt furnaces are projected to save the firm a total of $88,194/yr. based upon conservative energy consumption rates and metal loss rates. |
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